Biomass - Solar Panel test deployment at Airbus in Toulouse.

Biomass - Solar Panel test deployment at Airbus in Toulouse, France on 14 February 2023. The solar array is a single wing comprising four panels. The panels open from the side of the satellite via a yoke, and once fully deployed the four panels rotate to a fixed angle. Outstretched, the wing has an area of just over five square metres and generates the power that the satellite needs. Carrying a novel P-band synthetic aperture radar, ESA’s Earth Explorer Biomass satellite mission is designed to deliver completely new information on forest height and above-ground forest biomass from space. This information will provide new insight into the state of our forests and how they are changing, and further our knowledge of the role forests play in the carbon cycle.